Discord facts for kids
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Screenshot
Screenshot depicting Discord's home screen in 2025
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| Developer(s) | Discord Inc. |
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| Initial release | May 13, 2015 |
| Written in | |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, web browsers |
| Available in | 30 languages |
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List of languages
English (UK/US), Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified/Traditional), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Spanish (Spain/LATAM), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese
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| Type | VoIP communications, instant messaging, videoconferences, content delivery, and social media |
| License | Proprietary |
Discord is a popular social platform that lets people communicate in many ways. You can use it for voice calls, video calls, text messaging, and sharing pictures or videos. You can talk privately with friends or join bigger groups called "servers."
Servers are like online communities with different chat rooms and voice channels. You can join them using special invite links. Discord works on many devices, including Windows computers, macOS, Android phones, iOS and iPadOS devices, Linux, and even in web browsers.
As of 2024, Discord has about 150 million people using it every month. There are also 19 million active servers each week. It was first very popular with gamers, but now more and more people use it for other interests. Discord is one of the most visited websites in the world.
Contents
Discord's Story: How It Started
The idea for Discord came from Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy. Jason had created a social platform for mobile games before. He later started a game development company called Hammer & Chisel in 2012.
Why Discord Was Created
Jason noticed that his team had trouble talking to each other while playing online games like Final Fantasy XIV and League of Legends. The voice chat tools they used were not very good. This made him want to create a new chat service. He wanted it to be easy to use and not slow down games. The name "Discord" was chosen because it sounded cool and was easy to remember. It also fit their goal to solve "discord in the gaming community."
Early Growth and Partnerships
Discord was first released to the public in May 2015. It quickly became popular with gamers. Many gaming communities on Reddit started using Discord instead of older chat systems. It was also used a lot by players in esports and gaming tournaments. Discord grew by working with Twitch streamers and communities for games like Diablo and World of Warcraft.
In April 2018, Microsoft added support for Discord with Xbox Live. This allowed users to connect their Discord and Xbox accounts. They could then chat with their Xbox friends through Discord.
Expanding Beyond Gaming
Starting in June 2020, Discord announced a big change. They wanted to be more than just a gaming chat app. Their new slogan became "Your place to talk." They aimed to be a general communication app for everyone. They also improved how new users joined and made the service more reliable.
In March 2021, there were reports that several companies wanted to buy Discord. Microsoft was mentioned as a possible buyer. However, Discord decided to stay independent. Instead, Sony Interactive Entertainment invested in Discord. Sony planned to add some of Discord's features to the PlayStation Network by 2022.
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In May 2021, Discord changed its logo, which is shaped like a game controller and called "Clyde." They also updated their colors to be brighter. Their slogan changed again to "imagine a place." These changes got mixed reactions from users.
In August 2021, Discord's value grew a lot. This was partly because more people were using it during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many users were also looking for smaller, more private online spaces.
Recent Updates and Changes
In September 2021, Google asked two popular music bots on Discord, Groovy and Rythm, to stop working. These bots let users play songs from YouTube in voice channels. Soon after, Discord partnered with YouTube to test a "Watch Together" feature. This allows Discord users to watch YouTube videos together.
In November 2022, Discord was fined in Europe for not following some privacy rules. For example, the app sometimes kept running in the background after being closed. It also allowed users to create very short passwords.
In early 2023, some important United States documents were shared on a Minecraft Discord server. These documents were photos that showed details about the Russo-Ukrainian War and other information.
In August 2023, Discord made some changes to its staff. On December 5, 2023, Discord updated its mobile app. New features included a dark mode for OLED screens, voice messages, and new icons. In January 2024, the company laid off some employees.
On April Fool's 2024, Discord accidentally caused a video to get many views on YouTube. The Discord app played an announcement video on a loop, which made the view count go very high. YouTube later fixed the count.
In April 2025, Jason Citron announced he would step down as Discord's CEO. Humam Sakhnini, a former executive from Activision Blizzard, took over the role. Jason said this change was part of preparing Discord to become a publicly traded company.
How Discord Works: Features
Discord is designed to help people manage online communities. It has tools for voice and video calls, chat rooms that save messages, and ways to connect with other gaming services. You can also send direct messages and create private groups.
Servers: Your Online Communities
Discord communities are organized into "servers." Users can create servers for free. They can choose if their server is public or private. Inside a server, you can make different voice channels and text channels. You can also create categories to keep your channels organized. Most servers can have up to 250,000 members.
Server owners can also create "roles" and give them to members. Roles can decide which channels users can see, change their name color, or make them part of the moderation team. The largest Discord server known is for Midjourney, with over 15 million members.
Discord also allows game developers and publishers to "verify" their servers. Verified servers have special badges, showing they are official communities. This verification was later extended to esports teams and musical artists.
Channel Types: Different Ways to Chat
Channels on Discord can be used for voice chat and streaming, or for instant messaging and sharing files. Some channels can do both.
- Stage Channels: Launched in May 2021, these are like live audio events. They allow for moderated talks and discussions.
- Threads: Added in August 2021, these are temporary text channels that can disappear automatically. They help keep conversations organized.
- Forum Channels: Introduced in September 2022, these channels are like old-school Internet forums. They allow for longer, separate conversations on specific topics.
- Media Channels: Launched in June 2023, these channels are only for sharing videos and images.
User Profiles: Your Online Identity
When you sign up for Discord, you use an email and create a username. Until mid-2023, each user also had a four-digit number called a "discriminator" (like #1234) after their username. This allowed many people to have the same username. Users with Discord Nitro could even choose their own discriminator.
In May 2023, Discord changed this system. Now, users have unique usernames called "handles," without the four-digit number. Users got to pick their new usernames based on when they joined Discord, if they had Nitro, or if they owned a partner server.
In June 2021, Discord added an "about me" section to profiles. Users can also add a custom colored banner. Nitro subscribers can use animated images as their banners.
Video calling and screen sharing were added in October 2017. You can have private video calls with up to 50 people.
In August 2019, Discord added live streaming in servers. A user can share their whole screen or a specific app. Others in that channel can watch the stream. These features are great for small groups, not for competing with big streaming platforms like Twitch.
Developer Tools and Bots: Automating Tasks
Discord offers tools for developers to connect their games with the service. This is called "rich presence." It lets players join each other's games through Discord. It can also show what a player is doing in a game on their Discord profile.
Bots are tools made by the community to do tasks automatically. Server owners can add bots to help with moderation, host mini-games, or do many other automated jobs. As of 2021, there are about 430,000 active bots. Discord has an "app directory" where server owners can easily add bots. Bots are a very important part of Discord.
Unofficial Extensions: Customizing Your Experience
Discord does not officially allow changes to its app. However, many unofficial extensions have been created. One popular one is BetterDiscord. It's an open-source tool that lets users install plugins. These plugins can add new features or change how Discord looks. For example, some plugins let you use custom themes or make voice calls louder. While BetterDiscord can have bugs, its developers say users won't get in trouble with Discord as long as they don't use plugins that break Discord's rules.
How Discord Is Built: Infrastructure
Discord is a chat software that keeps your conversations saved. It was built to handle many messages quickly. The desktop, web, and iOS apps use React. The Android app now shares code with the iOS app. The desktop app is built using Electron, which allows it to work on different computers.
Discord uses Google Cloud Platform to run its service. It has data centers in many places to keep connections fast. In July 2020, Discord added noise cancellation to its mobile app using Krisp technology. This helps make voice calls clearer.
Discord's main systems are written in programming languages like Elixir, Python, Rust, and C++.
How Discord Makes Money: Monetization
Discord itself is free to use. However, the company has found ways to make money to support the service.
Discord Nitro: Extra Perks
In January 2017, Discord launched its first paid subscription called "Discord Nitro Classic." For a monthly fee, users get special features:
- An animated profile picture.
- The ability to use custom and animated emojis on any server.
- Larger file uploads (from 8 MB to 50 MB).
- Higher quality screen sharing.
- A unique profile badge.
In October 2018, a new "Discord Nitro" was introduced for a higher price. This version also included access to free browser games through the Discord game store. However, Discord stopped offering free games with Nitro in October 2019.
In October 2022, "Discord Nitro Classic" was replaced by "Discord Nitro Basic." This cheaper option includes some features from the full Nitro plan.
Server Boosts: Helping Your Community
In June 2019, Discord added "Server Boosts." Users can buy boosts for their favorite servers. If a server gets enough boosts, it unlocks special benefits for everyone in that server. For example, boosted servers can have better audio quality in voice channels or an animated server icon. Users with Discord Nitro get a discount on server boosts and even some free boosts.
Other Ways Discord Earns Money
In October 2020, Discord started testing digital stickers. Most stickers cost money, and this was part of Discord's plan to make money. However, in May 2023, Discord made most stickers free to all users and stopped selling them.
In October 2023, Discord added "Avatar Decorations" and "Profile Themes." Users can buy animated decorations for their profiles from Discord's Shop.
Discord also earns money by taking a small percentage (10%) from games sold directly through game developers' verified servers.
See also
In Spanish: Discord para niños
- Comparison of VoIP software
- Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
- List of freeware
